Local films shunned for Hollywood

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Confirming just how badly local films are faring, the Australian
Film Commission has released figures that show the local share of
box office takings was just 1.3 per cent last year.

This was a record low for Australian releases even though total
box office was up almost 5 per cent to $907.2 million.

The highest-grossing Australian film was the Paul Hogan-Michael
Caton comedy Strange Bedfellows which took $4.8million and
the critically acclaimed drama Somersault with
$2million.

In comparison, Shrek 2 took $50million. American films
were even more dominant than in the previous year, taking
$780million or more than 85 per cent of box office.

The chief executive of the commission, Kim Dalton, said the
figures reflected a production downturn. Twelve Australian features
were released last year compared with 22 in 2003.

"The box office results point to significant problems facing the
Australian production industry," he said, adding that moves to
address these problems promised to improve the industry's
health.

These measures include extra incentives for private investment,
reviews of existing tax incentives and more support for script
development and feature production, especially at the low-budget
end. Mr Dalton said the return of the country's biggest stars to
make films here, including Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Cate
Blanchett, were also positive signs.